P.E.I. — Fisheries Minister Neil LeClair recently reported spring lobster landings off Prince Edward Island are down almost 14 per cent from last year, The Canadian Press reports.
According to LeClair, landings of approximately 5.5-million kilograms off the north shore were down 16 per cent and landings on the central and eastern end of the Northumberland Strait were down seven per cent.
Although lobster prices increased this year, some fishermen argued the price hikes didn’t compensate for the low catches. “The price went up a fair bit, but the price seemed to go up when we weren’st fishing,” Chris Misener, a fisherman, told CBC News. “The first of the year when the catches were half decent, we were still getting a low price for our lobster and then as the season gets later and we weren’st getting great numbers, the price went up. It definitely helped, but it definitely didn’st balance out.”According to CP, LeClair attributes the low catches to the one millimetre increase in allowable upper-shell size, combined with excess wind and cold water.
